Hand-operated brake



April 30, 1929.

w. T. WATSON HAND OPERATED BRAKE Filed June 6. 1927 INVENTUR WILLIAM730M495 WATS N Ad A TT'ORNEYS Patented Apr. 30, 1929.

WILLIAM THOMAS WATSON, F VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

HAND-OPERATED BRAKE.

Application filed June 6, 1927. Serial no. 196,932.

My invention relates to improvements in hand operated brakes which areparticularly adapted for use on childrens hand drawn wagons, and havingfor its objects the provision of means whereby the wagon tongue whenused as a steering lever for the wagon, as in coasting, will on beingdepressed, apply a braking effectto the rear wheels; to provide aflexible braking medium to a brake drum which will automatically adjustitself to any irregularities in the periphery of said drum, and toprovide means for withdrawing the brake from any contactwith said drumon the elevating of the tongue. Vith these and other objects in view, Iwill now proceed to describe my invention in the followingspecification, having reference to the accompanying drawings in whichFig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fractional rear view showing the suspension of the brakebeam.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 33 ofFigure 1.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in each figure.

The numeral 1 indicates generally a wagon box having a floor 2, sidewalls 3. a front end wall 4 and a rear end wall 5. The box 1 issupported at its rear end upon a suitably mounted bolster 6 to which arear axle 7 is attached. and upon a turntable 8 at its forward end. Theturntable is preferably formed with an upper disc 9 which is heldagainst movement by a brace 10 connecting it to the box 1, and a lowerdisc 11 which is rotatably connected to the upper disc 9 by a king bolt12. Secured to the underside of the lower disc 11 is a bolster 13 towhich the front axle 14 is attached. Front wheels 15 are mounted uponthe axle 14 and rear wheels 16 having brake drums 17 on their innersides are mounted on the rear axle 7. Hingingly secured to the frontbolster 13 is a yoke 18 having a forked forward end 19 in which a tongue20 is hingingly connected. To the rear of the king bolt 12 andpreferably upon the up er disc 9 of the turntable 8 an upstanding bracet 21 is fitted in the upper end of which a cam 22 having a groovedperipheral edge 23 is journalled. The cam is so formed that its rearextremity is at a greater distance from its fulcrum pin 24 than itsforward end, so as to produce a greater distance of peripheral travel toa given rotation as the cam is rocked in an anti-clockwise direction.Gonnected with the cam adjacentthe king bolt is a spring supported )ushrod 25 which is suitably carried from t 1e front board 4 of the wagonbox 1, and is provided at its upper end with anupstanding crotch 26which is forwardly cranked as at 27 so that the crotch is disposedaxially above the king bolt 12 and forms a suitable fulcrum for thetongue 20 when swung back over the wagon box 1, in which osition it isinvariably disposed when used or coasting. In order that the tongue maybe prevented from endwise movement when coasting, I attach to its upperside a cleat 28 which engages the crotch 26 when the tongue 20 is swunginto its rearward or coasting position as shown in Figure 1.

Secured to the underside of the wagon floor 2 is a pair of cranks 29which carry at their outer ends a shaft forming a brake beam which inturn carries at each end a yoke 31 slidably movable upon a guide 31*,This yoke is preferably formed of wrought-. iron so as to provide adegree of resilience thereto. To the outer ends of each yoke aresilientand arcuate brake shoe 32 is secured, preferably having asuitable lining, which shoes are adapted to engage the brake drums 17. Aspring 33 is attached to the apex of each brake yoke 31 for the purposeof withdrawing the brake shoe from contact with the drums. ,1 Extendingfrom the brake beam is a pair of rods 34 which are connected together attheir forward end and attached to a cable 35 which leads onto the cam22, the forward end of said cable being suitably connected within thegroove 23 adjacent the forward end of the cam ace.

Having thus described the several parts of my invention I will nowbriefly explain its function.

Vvhen the person using the wagon is desirous of coasting, he swings thetongue 20 into a rearward position as shown with its cleat 28 mengagement with the crotch 26, thus disposing the tongue in a tillerposition for OFFICE;

steering the wagon. On applying a downward pressure to the free end ofthe tongue, a corresponding downward movement is imparted through thecrotch 26 to the spring push rod 25, which in turn imparts ananticlockwise movement to the cam 22 and a pulling strain to the cable35 and the rods 34, thus moving the yokes 31 towards the rear axle 7 andapplying the brake shoes 32 to the brake drums 17. Owing to theperiphery of the cam being at a greater distance from its pin at itsrear end than at its face end, the application of the brakes will beeffected at an increasing speed over the speed of depression of the pushrod 25. As increasing pressure is applied to the brakes, the bands whichare normally curved to a greater radius than the drums 17 will graduallydecrease their radii to conform, thus bringing a greater brake area intoaction, such decreasing radius obviously causing the outer ends of theyokes 31 to be drawn closer together. When the downward pressure isremoved from the free end of the tongue, the spring of the push rod 25and the springs 33 restore the brakes and their associated parts tonormal or off position.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The combination of a wagon bodyequipped at the front end with a turn table revolvable about a verticalaxis, a front axle secured to said turn table to turn therewith, frontwheels carried by said axle, a rear axle suspended from the rear end ofthe body and equipped with rear wheels, a tongue connected to themounting of the front wheels by a hinge permitting said tongue to swingforwardly to serve as a draught tongue or to swing rearwardly to serveasasteeringtongue, a vertically movable member carried by the forwardportion of the wagon body and provided at its upper extremity with aforwardly offset vertically extending saddle disposed in a verticalplane coinciding with the axis of rotation of said turn table, saidsaddle being adapted to receive and fulcrum said tongue when the latteris swung rearwardly to steering position, means for yieldinglymaintaining said member and saddle in elevated position, and a brakemechanism connected to said member and arranged to be actuted therebywhen the saddle is depressed in response to downward pressure exerted onsaid tongue.

2. A wagon equipped with front and rear wheels, the front wheels beingturnably mounted for steering purposes, a tongue connected to themounting of the front wheels by a hinge connection permitting saidtongue to swing forwardly to serve as a draught tongue or to swingrearwardly to serve as a steering tongue, a brake mechanism including anormally elevated deprcssible saddle arranged to receive said tonguewhen the latter is swung rearwardly to steering position, said tonguebeing movable laterally in said saddle for steering purposes and beingalso capable of downward movement to depress the saddle and effectapplication of the brake mechanism.

Dated at Vancouver, B. (1, this 27th day of May, 1927.

WILLIAM THOMAS WATSON.

